Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, also spelled Abū Ẓaby, constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Though its international boundaries are disputed, it is unquestionably the largest of the country’s seven constituent emirates, with more than three-fourths of the area of the entire federation. Its rich oil fields, both onshore and in the Persian Gulf, make it, with neighbouring Dubai, one of the nation’s two most prosperous emirates.

Abu Dhabi fronts the Persian Gulf on the north for about 280 miles (450 km). The desolate coast has many areas of sabkhah (“salt marsh”) and numerous offshore islands. Abu Dhabi borders Qatar (west), Saudi Arabia (south), and Oman, formerly Muscat and Oman (east). Internally it half surrounds Dubai and has a short frontier with Al-Shāriqah.

Since the 18th century the Āl bū Falāh clan of the Banū Yās has been in power; their earliest seat was in the Līwā (Al-Jiwāʾ) oasis district. In 1761 they found wells of potable water at the site of Abu Dhabi town on the coast, and they made their headquarters there from 1795. Because Abu Dhabi’s traditional rivals were the Qawāsim pirates of Raʾs al-Khaymah and Al-Shāriqah sheikhdoms and because the pirates were hostile to the sultanate of Muscat and Oman, Abu Dhabi’s rulers at first allied themselves with the sultanate. In the 19th century, however, territorial conflicts developed between Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Oman, and the expanding power of the Wahhābī of Najd, ancestors of the present ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia. These conflicts led to border disputes, most still unsettled.

Though not considered a pirate state, Abu Dhabi signed the British-sponsored General Treaty of Peace (1820), the maritime truce (1835), and the Perpetual Maritime Truce (1853). By the terms of the Exclusive Agreement of 1892, its foreign affairs were placed under British control. During the long rule of Sheikh Zayd ibn Khalīfah (1855–1908), Abu Dhabi was the premier power of the Trucial Coast, but in the early 20th century it was outpaced by Al-Shāriqah and Dubai. When Britain proposed withdrawal from the Persian Gulf (1968), Abu Dhabi, together with the other Trucial States, Bahrain, and Qatar, negotiated to form a nine-member federation. The latter two states, however, became separately independent (1971); Britain abrogated its earlier treaties with the Trucial States, and the new United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is a leading member, came into being. Abu Dhabi (the city) was made the provisional capital of the United Arab Emirates for five years; its status was extended several times until it was made the permanent national capital in the early 1990s.

Abu Dhabi’s economic base rests heavily on crude-oil production. Petroleum was discovered in 1958 at the submarine field of Umm al-Shayf, located offshore at a depth of almost 9,000 feet (2,750 metres). This oil is pumped through a submarine pipeline to the previously desolate Dās island, about 20 miles (32 km) west, where the emirate’s main offshore tanker terminal was built, with airstrip, gas-liquefaction plant, and ancillary facilities; exports began in 1962. Principal onshore production is from the Murbān and Bū Ḥaṣā fields, the centres of which are in the central part of the state, 25 to 40 miles (40 to 65 km) from the coast. Pipelines connect these with a coastal terminal to the northwest at Jabal Al-Ẓannah (Mount Dhanna). Other offshore fields are at the Ruqq Al-Zukum (Zukum shoal, northwest of the municipality of Abu Dhabi) and connected by submarine pipeline to Dās island, and at Umm al-Dalkh, north of Abu Dhabi (the city). The state’s total oil reserves are estimated to be about one-tenth of the world’s total reserves.

Abu Dhabi’s combined revenues from oil royalties and overseas investments give it one of the world’s highest per capita incomes, which has allowed for a series of ventures concentrating on large-scale construction projects and cultural development. At the beginning of the 21st century, Abu Dhabi concentrated on creating a network of world-class cultural centres to promote tourism and to entice and retain residents. Among these, plans to develop a 10-square-mile (27-square-km) island as a culture and tourism hub with a number of museums (including a branch of New York City’sGuggenheim Museum) were marked by a controversial deal with the French government, which, in addition to providing expertise and lending its works, agreed to loan the Louvre name to one of the island’s nascent art museums for a period of 30 years. After nearly a decade of delays, the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 in a building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. It was the first of the planned institutions to be completed. Despite provoking a great deal of debate, the arrangement underscored the emirate’s growing determination to draw and foster an international cultural focus.

In addition to internal development, Abu Dhabi has lent some of its wealth to its less-prosperous sister states in the United Arab Emirates, to other countries in the Arab world, and to developing countries elsewhere. An Arid Lands Research Centre was founded at Al-ʿAyn in the interior to seek improved methods of vegetable growing. Abu Dhabi also has a number of terrestrial and marine wildlife research centres.

Abu Dhabi is served by the Abu Dhabi International Airport, which underwent significant expansion in the early 21st century; Port Zāyid is a major shipping centre and the emirate’s main cargo port. There are a number of universities within the emirate, among them United Arab Emirates University (1976) and Abu Dhabi University (2003), as well as a branch of the Sorbonne (2006), which offers French-language courses designed to conform to the academic standards of the Sorbonne in Paris. Area 28,210 square miles (73,060 square km). Pop. (2012 est.) 2,334,563.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko, Assistant Editor.

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